We did briefly mention Michael Haneke’s “White Ribbon,” Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” and Gaspar Noé’s “Into The Void,” during our many voluminous 2009 Most Anticipated pieces, but now that the 2009 Cannes Film Festival has been announced and, frankly, because Empire has new first look images from them, it’s a good chance to give them a deeper discussion.
For fans of Michael Haneke’s enfante terrible milieu (dubbed the “Minister of Fear” by the New York Times last year), info on the film is still largely vague. We called it, “another cheerful project about strange events tied to a German rural school in the early 1900s that involve ritual beatings and potentially promote fascism.” Empire basically says the same thing (and their synopsis is basically lifted from IMDB), but they do provide this new, stark black & white image from the film and note the lead teenage actors Leonard Proxauf, Leonie Benesch and Theo Trebs (we won’t pretend to say we know any of them, but Proxauf was born in 1995, so presumably he’s the kid pictured, but the other two Benesch and Trebs are also relatively young being born, 1991 and ’94 respectively).
The Guardian provided additional details last year calling it, “a rare foray into costume drama” and what sounded like “a historical, Heimat-like epic set during the death throes of the Austro-Hungarian empire.” Apparently Jean-Claude Carriere (the screenwriter known for his work with directors like Luis Bunuel, Milos Forman and Japanese New Wave director Nagisa Oshima) had been helping trim the screenplay down.
Jane Campion hasn’t really had a stellar moment since “The Piano” in 1993 for which she won the Palme d’Or (“Holy Smoke” and “The Portrait of a Lady,” were good, but 2003’s “In The Cut,” was absymal ), but she returns with “Bright Star,” starring Ben Whishaw of “I’m Not There” and Abbie Cornish. The drama based on the three year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne which was cut short by his untimely death aged just 25. Supporting cast members include Thomas Sangster, Kerry Fox and Paul Schneider
Gaspar Noé, the French-Argentine provocateur behind the controversial and hard-t0-watch “Irreversible” and “I Stand Alone,” returns with “Enter The Void” about a young man who promises to protect his little sister after the brutal death of their parents. Fun for the whole family, we’re sure, but perhaps slightly less shocking and more dramatic?
Empire adds a vague, sun-stroked image into the mix and notes that the siblings are played by Nathaniel Brown and Paz de la Huerta (The sexy temptress of “The Limits of Control” by Jim Jarmusch (Cyril Roy also stars). Their synopsis also has more details and says: Oscar (Brow) and Linda (De la Huerta) have recently moved to Tokyo, where he sells drugs and she strips to survive. When he is accidentally shot, he experiences out-of-body experiences that become more and more nightmarish.
The British movie magazine also provide images of Johnny To’s “Vengeance,” starring French singer/actor icon Johnny Hallyday; Alejandro Amenabar’s “Agora” starring Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, Oscar Isaac; “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” starring Anna Mouglalis (who has been cast in the upcoming Serge Gainsbourg biopic as Juliette Greco), Mads Mikkelsen, Anatole Taubman; and Ken Loach’s soccer football-centric “Looking For Eric,” which stars Steve Evets, Eric Cantona, Stephanie Bishop (Loach won the Palme in 2006).
Cannes runs May 13-23 and all of these films will be making their world premieres at the festival. [Empire]
